Miami Police Chief Miguel Exposito defended his department’s actions against an evaluation by the FBI's former Miami station chief after a series of controversial police shootings that took seven lives in seven months, reports the Miami Herald. Exposito’s memo, which restated existing policies, got a lukewarm response from Thomas Rebull, who chairs a civilian investigative panel that was created to watch over the city police. “Some of the assertions in here bear closer examination,” Rebull said.
Rebull said a tracking system that follows how often an officer fires his weapon should include complaints of police abuse. He also pointed out that Exposito referred to a chart that compared police shootings under his administration with shootings under his predecessor's, and which found they were about equal. What the chief ignored: The earlier total included five bullets fired at dogs. “I'm not sure if it's fair to compare the discharging of firearms at dogs,” said Rebull. The ex-FBI official’s memo raised more questions than it answered. Exposito's response suggested the department's public stature had risen, saying that citizen complaints against officers dropped 22.4 percent last year.